


Oxymoron

by orphan_account



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-03-30
Updated: 2005-03-30
Packaged: 2017-11-14 15:29:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/516833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Introspection on a goofy phrase.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Oxymoron

"Hey, guys?" Duo said with a puzzled look on his face. Five curious pairs of eyes turned in his direction, and wondered what was up.

"What's got you so confused?" Wufei asked, and placed his styrofoam cup down on the picnic table. He lent forward curiously, as did the others. Duo scratched his head, and read the words once more silently, just to make sure he'd read correctly.

"Some kid in this article's wearing a shirt that says 'I've succeeded at failure'." He turned the magazine around to show his friends the shirt, and his face remained baffled. "How the hell do you succeed and fail at the same time?"

"You can't," Heero answered simply. "You either succeed or you fail. You can't do both at the same time."

"Of course you can." Wufei countered, and took the article out of Duo's hand. After wincing at the horrid style of clothing that model had on, he turned toward Heero and Duo, ready to defend his statement.

"No, you can't." Heero now had his hands on the article and read the words on the t-shirt. The weird looking guy in the picture was sure confident of himself, despite the fact that he had three piercings in his left nostril. The font on the black shirt was too dark, too.

"Yeah, yeah, ugly guy, ugly shirt, get over it," Duo said, and tossed the magazine to the ground without letting the rest look at it. "What do you think, Trowa? Can one succeed at failure?"

"No," Trowa responded, his one eye that wasn't blanketed with hair now showing interest in this debate. "I agree with Heero. You haven't succeeded if you've failed."

"What if... what if you try to fail, and succeed at doing so?" Quatre rebounded, and left Trowa speechless. He wasn't sure how to answer that question. Damn Quatre's sharp mind.

"That's exactly my point," Wufei responded, and was very satisfied with the fact that his side of the argument now had the upper hand. "If your goal is to fail, and you succeed at doing so, then you've succeeded and failed at the same time, thus succeeding at failure."

"It's not really failure, if it's success in your mind," said Heero, in attempt to take the lead back. "It might be failure to others, but if it's success to you, then it wasn't failure."

"You people are giving me a headache," Duo said, regretting that he even showed them the t-shirt.

He looked over toward the only party who hadn't stuck her two cents in and smiled. She'd know what to say.

"Hey, pretty, what do you think? Can one succeed at failure?"

"I think... " Relena said, and paused to think about this for a moment. It was an argument that could go on for hours if she wasn't careful, so she didn't even bother to develop an opinion. "I think your dilemma will be solved... if you flip a coin." Yes, she thought. That'll work.

"Flip a coin?" Duo asked.

"That won't solve anything," said Wufei, not wanting to back down while the debate was still hot. He wouldn't let the opposing side win if he could help it.

"I think that's a good idea," Trowa said while pulling a quarter out of his pocket. "Otherwise, I don't think this argument will ever end."

All eyes fixed on that silver coin as it flipped about it the air. This is truly the only peaceful way to end an argument over a silly oxymoron, Relena thought to herself. She just hoped a debate about jumbo shrimp or civil war wasn't next.

End


End file.
